Training Calendar

Color Vowel FAST© is an self-paced introduction to the Color Vowel® Approach. FAST training entails completing four video-based modules and taking companion quizzes for each module that you complete at your own pace. FAST training fulfills one of three requirements for Level 1 certification. Learn more about Level 1 certification requirements here.

Practice the rhythms and sounds of English and boost your speaking confidence with Pure English Practice, a brain-based pronunciation ‘workout’ for English learners. Teachers, invite your learners! Learners, invite your teachers! PEP happens on the first and third Thursday of each month.

To attend Pure English Practice, subscribe here. After subscribing, you will receive reminders and links for our next event.

Color Vowel Complete combines asynchronous learning with live training to immerse you in the use the Color Vowel® Approach and our pronunciation app, Blue Canoe. During this 5-week course with Karen Taylor, you will learn how to use powerful, brain-based strategies to teach learner pronunciation, vocabulary development, and oral fluency. Color Vowel Complete fulfills ALL of the requirements for Level 1 certification.

Increase your phonological awareness and gain confidence in the use of this powerful brain-based instructional technique.

Color Vowel® Yoga is a collection of simple movements that parallel the movement of the jaw, lips, and tongue when producing the vowel sounds of English. These movements serve as physical anchors for producing sounds that the learner may not yet be able to perceive.

In this practice-based workshop, participants increase their own phonological awareness as they gain confidence in leading Vowel Yoga and learn when to use Vowel Yoga as an instructional intervention.

Instructor: Karen Taylor

Guest speakers Aviva Katzanell (Florida Atlantic University) and Chelsea Hurkmans (Marinette School District, Michigan) will share their creative projects and tips for leveraging Color Vowel® beyond the lesson to connect learners with other learners, their school or program, and/or with their community.

Join Karen Taylor, co-author of the Color Vowel Approach, for an overview of this innovative, brain-based method for teaching spoken English, pronunciation, vocabulary, and reading to English learners.

This one-day workshop explores how the Color Vowel® Approach can enhance your English grammar instruction. You will leave the workshop with activities and techniques that you can implement in your classroom right away.

Gain pronunciation coaching experience and insight throughout this 6-week experience. Working closely with your practicum mentor and coaching cohort, you will lead select class activities and provide feedback to between 1-3 students enrolled in the Speak Confidently!, pronunciation course taught by Karen Taylor.

Prerequisite: Coaching Practicum candidates must have completed all three Level 2 Core workshops, including Color Vowel Yoga, Spelling Exploration, and Rhythm & Chants.

Readers Theater (RT) is a group read-aloud in which individuals perform level-appropriate scripts to tell a story cooperatively. Participants will learn how RT supports development of the learner’s external reading voice (rate, vocabulary, and pronunciation/ comprehensibility) as well as their “internal” reading voice (the voice they “hear” when reading silently), thereby strengthening both oral fluency and reading fluency.

Discover how Readers Theater brings the written word to life while supporting English learner comprehensibility and speaking confidence. In this Level 2 elective workshop, Master Trainer Jennifer Campion will introduce participants to Readers Theater and guide them through the steps and strategies involved in implementing RT in the ESL/EFL classroom.

Instructor: Jennifer Campion

Learn how taking a sound-based approach to spelling empowers learners to notice patterns and engage in life-long language discovery.

Color Vowel Complete combines asynchronous learning with live training to immerse you in the use the Color Vowel® Approach and our pronunciation app, Blue Canoe. During this 5-week course with Karen Taylor, you will learn how to use powerful, brain-based strategies to teach learner pronunciation, vocabulary development, and oral fluency. Color Vowel Complete fulfills ALL of the requirements for Level 1 certification.

This course is for non-native English-speaking teachers and advanced learners who wish to increase their comprehensibility and confidence in spoken English.

In this 5-session practice-based course taught by Karen Taylor and her team of Color Vowel Level 2 Coaches, participants will engage in a series of brain-based English pronunciation exercises that build awareness of the sounds and rhythms of English for the purpose of being more confident in their spoken English.

Learn how to preview, lead, and close chants with learners using existing chants and modified chants. Workshop participants will:

• Learn how chants support brain-based language learning;
• Practice priming, leading and closing a chant with clear gestures;
• Master three Color Vowel chants and their variations;
• Learn when and where chants are most effective in a lesson.

Phonological awareness is a person’s awareness of the sounds, rhythms, and intonations they use when speaking and understanding how spoken English differs from written English.

In this practice-based workshop, Dr. Robin Barr will lead participants through a series of discovery activities and mini-lectures aimed at increasing teachers’ phonological awareness for the purpose of English language teaching.

This Level 2 workshop is open to Level 1 certified teachers and is recommended to those who have completed Color Vowel Yoga, a Level 2 workshop.

Instructor: Dr. Robin Barr

Blue Canoe® is a powerful mobile app for improved English pronunciation and speaking confidence. Collect practical tips from teachers who have integrated Blue Canoe into their courses and inspired their learners to engage in daily practice. View past sessions of the Blue Canoe Success Forum.

Color Vowel Complete combines asynchronous learning with live training to immerse you in the use the Color Vowel® Approach and our pronunciation app, Blue Canoe. During this 5-week course with Karen Taylor, you will learn how to use powerful, brain-based strategies to teach learner pronunciation, vocabulary development, and oral fluency. Color Vowel Complete fulfills ALL of the requirements for Level 1 certification.

During this 4-week workshop with Karen Taylor and Shirley Thompson, participants will:

• Identify the strengths and limitations of print and online materials;
• Use Color Vowel mark-ups to enhance activities;
• Adapt textbook activities to boost speaking practice opportunities;
• Enhance textbook content through the use of rhythms and chants;
• Create simple online activities enhanced with Color Vowel images and references.

Color Vowel Complete combines asynchronous learning with live training to immerse you in the use the Color Vowel® Approach and our pronunciation app, Blue Canoe. During this 5-week course with Karen Taylor, you will learn how to use powerful, brain-based strategies to teach learner pronunciation, vocabulary development, and oral fluency. Color Vowel Complete fulfills ALL of the requirements for Level 1 certification.